Reading Guide: The Epic of Gilgamesh - KsuWeb - Kennesaw State ...

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146 K UNIT 2 Shamash, the sun god, then intervenes and tells Enkidu to grow up and accept his fate. After all, because of the hunter and the harlot, Enkidu was able to experience things that he never would have been able to do before, such as wear royal clothes, eat excellently prepared food, seek human companionship with Gilgamesh, attain the status of a hero for successfully bringing the pine lumber to Uruk, etc. Really, Enkidu has lived a good and meaningful life (albeit a short one), but now is his time to die. We are all given the gift of life from the gods — without asking for it — so we have nothing to complain about. Enkidu’s second dream takes him into the Underworld, where he describes the dusty dim nature of the time spent beyond life on earth. Tablet XII at the end of the epic explores this idea further, although no real action takes place for us to discuss. We have already seen the Underworld, so we can overlook the twelfth tablet in our discussion of Gilgamesh. Enkidu becomes ill, and slowly he grows weaker and wastes away until he cannot rise from his own bed. Gilgamesh, although two-thirds god, cannot do anything to prevent his friend’s fate. Enkidu’s death will inspire Gilgamesh to embark on a more important journey, seeking eternal life on a more profound quest ... a spiritual quest to help another, not a physical quest to help himself. After realizing this terrible turn of events, Gilgamesh will now devote his life to his more proper journey — the search for the power to bring his friend back from the dead. He will embark on a journey for immortality, found in the form of the Flower of Immortality (the same one that Etana had sought in an earlier story). The Enkidu experiment has failed: instead of balancing out Gilgamesh, the exact opposite has occurred: Gilgamesh has become stronger, and all the feminine forces have grown weaker. When Enkidu was transformed into a civilized man by Shamhat, he rejected his Nature side, crossing the isthmus into the opposite realm. This is why he is out of balance, and why he is the gods’ logical choice to die over Gilgamesh. If something had not been done soon to stop his reign of terror, Gilgamesh might have extinguished all the feminine forces in the world. By killing Humbaba, Enkidu has effectively killed his own essence and heritage. In the process, he has assumed more of Gilgamesh’s mannerisms and outlooks on life. Originally, Enkidu was created help balance Gilgamesh, but by the middle of the story, both Gilgamesh and Enkidu are firmly on the side of society. Maybe we learn that we can never run away from our God-given attributes, lest we violate the beauty of our intended place on the spectrum. Maybe this episode of Enkidu’s death explains a universal truth: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Mess with Nature ... and she’ll mess with you too! A world of time, motion, and duality demands that both YANG and YIN operate in balance, and the gods realize this. Recall what the world was like before Enki arrived in the Enki and Ninhursag myth — pure and lifeless without any cycles or motion. The total eradication of the female forces would mean stillness, nothingness, and death. If the gods wish to survive, they must preserve duality. Questions for The Epic of Gilgamesh (Tablet VII) 52. Explain the prophesy of Enkidu’s first dream. Which is the only god to support Enkidu? 53. Why does Enkidu destroy the great pine door that he had made? 54. What is Gilgamesh’s plan to change the gods’ minds? 55. What curses does Enkidu heap upon the “hunter” and the “harlot”?
The Epic of Gilgamesh K 147 56. How does Shamash scold Enkidu, and what does he make Enkidu realize about his life? 57. Describe some of the visions that Enkidu sees in his second dream, when he visits the Underworld. 58. For how many days does Enkidu fall ill? Tablet VIII: The Death of Enkidu (91-95) The tablet begins with Enkidu having just expired. Gilgamesh recalls their glorious deeds together, as well as all of the people and things associated with the life of Enkidu. Although Gilgamesh speaks to himself, within the privacy of his home, his speech acts as a fitting eulogy for his fallen friend. Gilgamesh erects a statue in Enkidu’s honor and provides several offerings to Shamash. Gilgamesh also sheds his royal garments for primitive rags. Unfortunately, the last two pages of this tablet are broken, so we cannot know the details of Gilgamesh’s funeral rituals. When Enkidu finally dies, Gilgamesh sees himself lying on Enkidu’s death bed. He mourns for a week. He bolts the door, trashes his home, pulls out his hair, and grieves over the decaying body of his friend. The next series of events reflect the reemergence of the female voice, and the rest of the epic reflects a return to the importance of balance and harmony as it was expressed in Unit 1. Gilgamesh has realized that killing Humbaba has its consequences, and that Enkidu’s death is a direct result of Gilgamesh’s arrogance and ambitions. Had they not bothered Humbaba, Enkidu might still be alive. Gilgamesh must set forth on the journey that he should have been on all along — the quest for eternal life — the ultimate spiritual journey. He now embarks on a more dangerous adventure to the other side of the world to talk with the only man who was granted eternal life — Ut-napishtim, the Far-Distant (“He who saw everything,” also known to us as Atrahasis or Noah). This journey is really his most important one since he must learn the lessons of life that have not yet sunken in. Questions for The Epic of Gilgamesh (Tablet VIII) 59. Who/What does Gilgamesh blame for the death of Enkidu? 60. Why does Gilgamesh react so violently after he speaks Enkidu’s eulogy? 61. Describe and explain why Gilgamesh changes his physical appearance: “Clad only in lionskin, I will roam the open country.” Tablet IX: The Quest to the land of the faraway (95-99) Having undergone the loss of his companion, Gilgamesh is clearly distraught. Afraid of his own mortality, Gilgamesh embarks on a quest to find the elixir of immortality. Wearing ragged clothes, Gilgamesh searches for a man named “The Faraway” or “The Far-Distant,” Ut-napishtim, who had survived the Great Flood. He now constantly cries due to his grief — something he was unable to do before the arrival of Enkidu. Gilgamesh had never lost anything before, and now he feels deep pain for the first time. Finally, Gilgamesh is becoming in touch with his feminine side because is able to feel the pain of someone else — Enkidu.
Page 1 and 2: The Epic of Gilgamesh K 135 Reading
Page 3 and 4: The Epic of Gilgamesh K 137 Being a
Page 5 and 6: The Epic of Gilgamesh K 139 Rumor t
Page 7 and 8: The Epic of Gilgamesh K 141 Enkidu
Page 9 and 10: The Epic of Gilgamesh K 143 perform
Page 11: The Epic of Gilgamesh K 145 Remembe
Page 15 and 16: Tablet X: Ut-napishtim, the far-dis
Page 17 and 18: Tablet XI: The Flower of immortalit

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